Fork or paddle



A. K. JOHNSON.

FORK 0R PADDLE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4, 1920,

l ag mg Patented (m 17,1922,

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

l atentecl @ct. iii", i922.

ALEXANDER KEND Applic RICK JOHNSON, 0F NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

FOR-K OB PADIDLE.

ation filed June To all whom it may concern:

it known that T, ALEXANDER son, a citizen of the United at Nashville, inthe county 0 State of Tennessee, have new and useful Improvements in K.Jenn- States, residing f Davidson ELlIC invented. certain Forks orPaddles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to a fork or paddle, and aims to prom.

le such an implement for handling vegetables, meat, lard,

butter and other food stuffs in a sanitary way, and provided with noveland 1111 proved means by the fork paddle wi same by the finger forejecting the object held thout touching The object of the invention isthe provision of an ejecting means the fork or paddle in a novel manner,

sheet metal 111 such a way as constructed of to be thoroughly practicalan assembled with and d efficient in operation, and includinglmprovements in detail to enhance the utility of A further object is theguard for the handle to p gers slipping when manipulating plement.

A still further object is t the implement. provision of a revent thefinthe imhe combination in such an implement of a bottle cap removerutilizing the guard as a fulcrum.

lVith the foregoing and other view, which will be apparent the inventionresides in the tion proceeds,

objects in as the descripconstruction and arrangement of partshereinafter described and derstood that changes can the scope of what isclaim parting from the spirit claimed, it being unbe made within edwithout deof the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accomlines wherein 1 is an edge viewof the implement retracted.

the implement. the ejector in cross sectional details 3-3, lel and Fig.6 is a fragmentary edge view of the implement, showing the sam moving abottle cap.

w r- Big. 4 1s a fragmentary p e in use for relan view show- 1920.Serial No. 386,433.

ing a par dle instead of'a fork, the improvements being useful for both.

The implement comprises a flat metal shank 10 which, as shown in Figs.1, 2 and 4, has a fork 11 at one end, for handling vegetables, meat, andother objects. The implement thus serves as a cooking fork for handlinghot objects and also serving them without touching same by the fingers,to provide for sanitary handling of the objects. The shank 10 isprovided at its other end portion with a widened handle 12, and saidhandle is concaved transversely to present a convexed surface to thefingers which pass under the handle in manipulating the fork, andpresenting a broad surface to the hand.

In order to prevent the fork from slipping when in use, a guard 13 isprovided, said guard extending below the handle parallel therewith, andbeing of a curved cross sec tion reverse to the curvature of the handle12, to present a transversely convexed surface to the fingers andfacilitating the insertion of the fingers without contacting with theedges of the metal. The guard 13 has its end portions 14 and 15 offsettoward the handle 12 and riveted or otherwise secured to the endportions of the handle. The handle and guard being of curved sectionwill not only conveniently accommodate the fingers of the hand, but willalso stiffen them longitudinally thereof to withstand rough use.

The ejector comprises a stem 16 formed of sheet metal and of tubularconstruction, the metal being bent transversely into a tube with theedges meeting at the bottom, as seen in Fig. 5, and the metal at theforward end of the stem 16 is widened and fiattened out to provide theejector blade 17 having a central corrugation 18 into which the forwardend of the stem 16 merges, thus providing a stiff and strong connectionbetween the stem and blade. The blade has a lip 19 bent at an angletherefrom and provided with. apertures 20 through which the tines of thefork extend, thereby slidably mounting the ejector blade on the fork.The inner or rear end of the stem 16 is formed with a hinge butt 21 forconnection with the operating means as presently described. Tn order tooperate the ejector, an arm 22 is employed, the same comprisin a clampbar or plate of sheet metal provic ed at its forward end with abifurcation and hinge butts: 23 receiving the hinge butt 21 of the stem16, and a hinge pin'24L extends through said hinge butts to hingedlyconnect the stem 16 and arm 22. The arm 22 has a longitudinalcorrugation or rib 25 struck upwardly therefrom for the contact of thethumb of the hand, and to also stiffen said arm against bending movementunder the pressure of the thumb, as well as enabling the thumb to slidealong the corrugation or rib easily in manipulating the fork. The arm 22is mounted on the implement for swinging movement, the rear or inner endof the arm being hinged,.as at 26, to a hinge leaf 27 secured on theinner or rear end portion of the handle 12 opposite tothe end portion 15of the guard 13 preferably by the same rivet 28 which fastens said endportion of the guard to the handle.

The hinge 26 has a torsion spring 29 which exerts a tension for swingingthe arm 22 upwardly away from the handle, whereby to pull the stem 16with said arm and thereby retract the ejector, as seen in Fig. 1. Thefork 11 can then be stuck into the object for handling same, with thefingers of the hand passingthrough the slot between the handle 12 andguard 13, and the thumb bearing on the arm 22. To eject the object fromthe fork, the arm 22 is pressed down by the thumb, thereby advancing theejector by a toggle action, and straightening out the stem 16 and arm22, as seen in Figs. 2 and 6, whereby the lip 19 is moved forwardly onthe fork to push the object from same. Ob-

' 'ects which have a tendenc to clin or stick on the fork, can thus beejected therefrom easily, and when the pressure of the thumb is removedfrom the arm 22, the spring 29 returns the 2.111122 and ejector toretracted position.

The implement also has combined therewith a bottle cap remover. Thus,the inner or; rear end of the handle 12 has an extension 30 projectingat an angle toward the side at which the guard 13 is located, and theextension 30 is provided at the end thereof with a hook 31 to engageunder the edge of the cap 32, as seen in Fig. 6, while the inner or rearend of the guard 13 seats on the cap and serves as a fulcrum. Pressureapplied to the shank 10 will easily loosen and remove the cap.

The improvements are also useful on a paddle, as well as a fork,reference being had to Fig. 7 wherein the shank 10 has a paddle blade 11instead of a fork, and the ejector blade 17 has the lip 19 extending atan angle and provided with slot 20 through which a blade 11 extends,said ejector moving on the paddle blade in the same manner that theejector works on the fork 11 as above described. The paddle when usedfor andling lard, butter and the like, can be readily cleared by theoperation of the ejector which will remove the matter from the paddle ina sanitary way.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is Animplement comprising a substantially flat metal shank having a blade atone end and a handle at the other end, a guard below the handle havingits end portions offset to the handle, a hinge leaf on that end portionof the handle opposite to the blade, means securing said hinge leaf andcorresponding end portion of the guard to the handle, a flat metal armhaving one end hinged to said leaf and having an upstruck rib for thecontact of the thumb, a spring associated witlr the hinge connectionbetween said armand leaf for swinging the arm away from the handle, anda sheet metal ejector having a tubular stem with one end hingedlyconnected to the other end of said arm, and the other end portion of thestem being flattened out and having a lip extending downwardly at anangle and slid able on the blade, the flattened portion having acorrugation merging into the stem.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses. I

ALEXANDER KENDRICK JOHNSON.

WVitnesses:

A. C. S. JAoKsoN, C. W. TURPIN.

